Philippine president pardons British drug convict

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has pardoned an ill British drug convict from his life sentence on condition he return home. Presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said Monday that William Robert Burton must pay a 20,000 pesos ($460) fine to a metropolitan Manila court. The other conditions are that he pay his airfare home and never return to the Philippines. Burton, from Rufforth, Yorkshire in northern England, has shortened arms due to a Thalidomide-caused condition and his health is reportedly failing. He was given a life sentence in 1992 for attempting to smuggle marijuana out of the Philippines, and the Supreme Court affirmed it in 1997. Britain’s Foreign Office, which supported the clemency appeal “given the compelling, compassionate circumstances of his case,” said it welcomed the news. “I know that this news will be warmly welcomed by Billy’s family and his supporters at the Thalidomide Trust who have campaigned tirelessly on Billy’s behalf,” Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne said in a statement.